Computers and Software > Separation Programs

Separation Studio - Tips, Tricks, Questions?

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screenxpress:
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AdvancedArtist:
I will deal with the debatable and personal issues later but let us begin with the fundamentals of color.



This is where the rubber hits the road dealing with color. Well with the exception of Brightness and Saturation but in my understanding/opinion the foundation of color gets its traction in the wonderful HUE. If the application or understanding you are working with in anyway destroys, changes or shifts HUE. You will have to spend unneeded to time correct such destruction. We as an Industry tend to eye ball things I did this myself for many years. But now I realize that eye balling color can be compared to letting clients walk into pay bills and just letting them toss some money on the table and saying well that looks like enough.

So what are we looking at in the image above? If you cannot make out the differences just pop it into a standard Graphics app and float your eye dropper around. Which one is not like the other?

What critical color reproduction information has been moved or changed? How will that effect your separations? How might that effect your business?

AdvancedArtist:
Looking at it with something that is more obvious. This is a revealed FULL HUE comparison, one is mathematically correct the other has been severely damaged resulting in color loss. The color destruction can be a bigger issue than you may perceive at first. You see all colors can be separated with 100% accuracy based on Color, Black and White or Hue Saturation and Brightness all of which have numerical values in digital color. If the Color or HUE has be destroyed (moved or changed digitally) you can no longer work with the color accurately with digital color math. This is particularly critical in colors and color ranges that blend. If blends are destroyed there is no way to achieve accurate color separations or reproduction.

Mathematically it is like this 36 - 13 = 23 but what if my shiny $800 calculator turns 13 into 21? BAM the math no longer works correctly. For instance in the left image we can see that a significant percentage of blend from blue to cyan is gone, so that/those mathematic or digital color value(s) have been moved or destroyed. My ability to divide/separate the digital color/digital math accurately has been taken away from me. Further my ability to reproduce the color on a printing press has also been compromised.



Color and the business of screen printing. If your separation application is not digitally correct or you or your separators understanding of how to work with standard graphics tools pushes you into tools like this application here are some of the ways it might effect your business.

Separations are inaccurate.
Separations take hours and not minutes.
Separations are done with excessive colors 12 or 14 colors when 5 or 7 colors could have printed it as well or better.
12 color print requires 65% more ink per print than a 7 color print reducing profit on the job.
12 color print that could have been a 7 color takes more time to set up and register.
12 color print that could have been a 7 or even a 5 color print reduces the soft hand on the garment.

You bid a 12 color print and your color smart competition bids a 5 color print. You loose the JOB, the CLIENT and the CASH.

Your color smart competition starts to take more and more of your business by undercutting you while they make more profit because they charge more per color but reproduce color better with less colors.
This list could be carried over into other you loose money and clients issues.. but I hope/think we get the point.

I will get into more soon....

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